The first picture released by police identified his ethnicity as Uighur, but the police later released another picture with the reference deleted and asked the media not to identify him as Uighur. “If they did, he would not have got past our net”, said an Indian intelligence official.

On August 17, a bomb went off at the Erawan Shrine in the heart of Bangkok, killing 20 people and injuring scores more.

Up until Saturday, Thai police had avoided attempts to directly connect the blast with the kingdom’s major ally China or the Uighurs.

Thailand has so far arrested two foreigners and issued a dozen arrest warrants.

Khalid also said Malaysian police were unsure if the main suspect was in Malaysia.

On Friday, Thai police spokesperson Prawut Thavornsiri claimed that the bombing was an act of retaliation by a network smuggling people across the southern border who lost money after a recent crackdown.

Officer Mana, who led the investigation, said surgeons then used a colonoscope to pull out the six-caract diamond from the woman’s lower intestine.

That statement also referred to Ishan being of Uighur ethnicity.

Uighurs from China’s western Xinjiang region have close ties to Turkey where many nationalists regard them as part of a broad family of ethnic Turks spread across Eurasia.

Chinese visitors are a lynchpin of the tourist industry, and Beijing remains one of the increasingly isolated Thai junta’s few worldwide allies.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – A Pakistani and two Malaysians have been detained in connection with last month’s bombing of a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people, the national police chief said Monday.

Thailand police efforts to recognize the members of the network believed involved in the bombing continued on Sunday when Thia cops in Bangkok raided an apartment that they suspected was linked to a bombing suspect. Investigations revealed that he left Thailand on August 16 for Bangladesh, and police speculated that he might have gone to China.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he was not aware if the suspect had flown to China.